In case you have been wondering...

Gaborone Travel Blog

Yes, I am
still working, my full five days a week, 7:30 AM until 5:00 PM.

Work is
quite challenging currently because I am working on four projects at the same
time.

My initial
project, the revision of a booklet on labour law (a subject that I had
successfully been able to ignore in Germany) is still pending. I have
written some updates and addendums but the revision itself is still on my desk.
I will be able to finish it by the end of my term here.

Another
project that you are already familiar with is the revision of the Botswana
HIV/AIDSCharter, the reason why I went
to Francistown.
The project is ongoing and we have scheduled two more workshops here in Gaborone for June 25 and
July 3. I pushed for the inclusion of not only established HIV and AIDS
organisations but also doctors, orphanages and schools. I hope they will bring
added value, apart from the normal agendas that NGOs tend to follow. Will see how
that works. Since my boss, Mma Mtunzi and the other paralegal in the office,
Florah will be away all next week, the organisation mainly rests with me and
another volunteer, who, thankfully, is very dedicated: she is only 22 years
old, a Motswana and her name is Beauty.

The third
project I inherited from my Dutch colleague Marcella who has left the office.
It is quite a big project that initially I found very appealing. The Southern
African Legal Assistance Network (SALAN - http://www.salan.org/home/), an NGO
that covers NGOs in 9 countries all over Southern Africa is preparing a report
on the â€śRight to Foodâ€ť, that is enshrined in Article 11 of the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which most countries
in Southern Africa have ratified, except Botswana and Mozambique. SALAN is
undertaking a study on how well the member countries are prepared to provide
quality food to its citizens and what disaster plans are in place. With the
current price hikes and the food crisis that is much more evident here than it
might be in Europe or North America, this is a
very valuable endeavour.

The project
had been assigned to Marcella because I was already quite busy. She worked for
3 weeks on it. Unfortunately she was only able to do some Internet research,
which did not produce many results (which is normal in a country that is by far
not as Internet-savvy as our societies). She did not go to any library or talk
to anybody so far. This leaves us with many, many, many questions that we were
presented with unanswered. I was a bit frustrated when I learned about that.
Another Motswana volunteer, Jonathan, is helping me with this project because
it is way too much in my rather tight timeframe here. Every free minute is
currently filled with this project.

The fourth
and last project I am involved in is a get out the vote campaign for Zimbabwe. Botswana is
host to tens of thousand, maybe even hundreds of thousand Zimbabwean refugees.
They are not allowed to vote by absentee ballot, so in order for them to make
their vote count they have to go back to Zim for the run-off election on June
27. Our centre is a member of the â€śBotswana Civil Society Solidarity Committee
for Zimbabweâ€ť
(BOCISCOZ), and our Activism team that is headed by the director has been very
much involved in drafting this campaign. Currently, 20 trained field workers
are going through the streets in Gaborone, and
starting tomorrow in Francistown
to educate Zimbabweans that they have to go home and vote for the election. We
found donors to pay for the train rides to Bulawayo
in Zimbabwe
for as many people as the money can cover. Our initial aim was 800 people.
After two days of campaigning (and 10 more to go), already 1,200 people
registered to go. It is a tremendous success.

We have had
meeting over meeting over meeting with the leaders of the Zimbabwean groups
here, discussing money and logistics. Most of them are great to deal with, very
fact oriented. Others are very emotional, though, and it is hard to deal with
them when they just keep talking and worrying about themselves. I am learning many
lessons in Southern African deliberations, which take much much longer than I
am used to and contain a lot of talking without getting anywhere. At times,
these meetings can anger me greatly for sometimes it shines through that even a
new leadership in Zim might not be that different...it felt frustrating, just
too much politics in an effort that is there to help people go and vote, for
whomever they want. I talked to the director about it the other day and she
told me that all we do is get out the vote. We have to balance many interests
and try to just stay as neutral as we can. It is very hard sometimes. Last
night, while we were bickering over money equivalent to 500 euros for hours and
one particular member was going on and on about his achievements and how he is
being mistreated by the donors and eventually us, it was very very very hard to
keep my mouth shut. I am telling me these are singular people, because I also
experience very dedicated members of the group that are not just talking about
themselves but want to get this thing done.

It looks
like we can send more than 3,000 people and Heaven knows how many more will go
with their own money because they have been made aware that many of their
countrymen are going, too. They are going into a very unsafe future, because
nobody knows what will happen if Mugabe loses and is not stepping down. The
first elections have been so rigged! I donâ€™t know why everybody expects this to
be a fairer election than the first one. SADC, the regional organization of
states, is sending 500 election monitorsâ€¦for more than 8,000 polling stations.
It is ridiculous.

But it is
very intriguing to be working on this issue and I am thankful that Mma Mogwe,
the director has involved meâ€¦feels very much at the brink of issues.

Add this to
the current living condition I am experiencing with sharing not only a room
with Johann, the other German, but even a bed, because the room is too small
for anyone to sleep on the floor. We had to leave the guest house about 10 days
ago and are now staying in the intern apartment at the other end of the city,
which means long transports in the morning and eveningâ€¦itâ€™s not very
easyâ€¦Hopefully we can be back in the guest house by the weekend, each with his
own room!

Just for
fun, I have done a slightly exaggerated schedule for a â€śnormalâ€ť day these days
(since the Euro 2008 started):

06:20 AM: Johannâ€™s alarm clock is playing itâ€™s party music â€“ I am normally
already awake, but still in my sleeping bag. Johann gets up and rushes to the
shower.

06:35 AM:My alarm is ringing, gentler than Johannâ€™s. I hear that Stefan,
the other intern in the apartment, is up, too and sneaking into the bath right
after Johann. Darn, now I have to wait another 15 minutes.

06:55 AM:The bathroom is free. I hop under the shower, get dressed and
say good-bye to the guys (no breakfast for me).

07:10 AMI am standing at the bus stop to board a combi bus. Most are
already filled to the rim. I manage to squeeze in and am dropped off about 1 km
from work. I pay my 3 Pula and walk to the office.

07:32 AMArriving at the office, I join the kitchen chitchat for a few
minutes. I am greeted by a co-worker by â€śHey, I saw you on tellie over the
weekend! You were with the Zebras in Mozambique, right?â€ť I am surprised,
but pleased; the rest of the office has seen me, too.

08:45 AMI am going for my second cup of coffee, which is desperately
needed by now.

09:01 AMFeels like my brain starts workingâ€¦

09:36 AMJonathan drops by for a meeting about the foods rights
project. We discuss issues until 10:00 AM, then he wants my assistance in
helping procure a scholarship by German organizations. I am trying to help, but
cannot reallyâ€¦

10:04 AMThe director comes by and asks me to prepare minutes of a
meeting that I did not attend. She tells me what needs to be in there, I am
trying to follow and prepare a report.

10:59 AMMma Mtunzi, my superior, calls an immediate meeting to discuss
the way forward on the HIV/AIDS charter. We meet with three colleagues and go
through what needs to be done.

11:45 AMThe meeting ends in disarray because we have strayed from the
initial topic and now try to solve other problems in the office.

11:55 AMMma Mtunzi remembers that I have to draft a budget for the
workshopsâ€¦which I had successfully ignored so farâ€¦

12:15 PMThe director calls and asks me to attend a Zimbabwe meeting
at 03:00 PM and to devise a flyer as well as a questionnaire for that meeting.

12:30 PMI am kicked out for my lunch break. The office virtually
closes down. I am heading to the guest house to start a wash load, because I am
running out of clothes. Johann calls to confirm that he got tickets for the Botswana
football match on Saturday! YES!

01:30 PMBack at work to do some emailingâ€¦

02:00 PMI am working on the fliers and the questionnaires. Have to go
through the content ten times with different people.

03:00 PMThe meeting has been delayed to 03:45 PM.
Beauty, another intern, informs me that most of the 40 fax invitations for the
AIDS workshops that I had prepared yesterday went throughâ€¦except for 10. Either
fax machines are not working (very common in government offices) or there are
simply none or the secretaries donâ€™t know how to use them. She is following up
on these. Thank goodness.

03:06 PMMma Mtunzi aks about my progress regarding the labour law
bookletâ€¦while I try to defend myself, she bursts out in laughter. She knows I
am juggling too many issues right now and just wanted to tease me. She really
is a very good boss and we get along greatly. Without our chats and laughs
throughout the day, things would be harder here.

03:21 PMI am kicked out of my office, the paralegal conference room,
because Boitumelo, another paralegal, is seeing a group of 5 clients and they
need the room. Since there is no other space currently, I am going over to the
Dutch interns for my fourth coffee of the day. In kitchen, I am being advised
by our housekeeper, Mma Catherine, that this is not good for me. She also
promises me to pay me back 4 euros she still owes me for more than 4 weeks now.

03:45 PMThe meeting with Zimbabweans starts. Our administrator and I
are in it, the director and the other activisim officer are trying to acquire
money. The meeting goes on and onâ€¦I am more than once biting my tongue not to
say something. At 5:00 PM, normally my closing time, I am losing my nerves and
simply start suggesting whatever comes to my mind to solve the impasse we have
reached. Some are receptive to my ideas, some arenâ€™t. Whatâ€™s new?

05:30 PMThe Germany match is coming up at 6:00 PM. I need to find a
way out of this meeting.

05:35 PMLuckily, my 84 year old grandmother is calling just now. I use
the opportunity to sneek out. When I return, I tell them I have another meeting
at 6:00 PM. I know, I should have been honest, but there seemed no other way
outâ€¦

05:45 PMMy taxi arrives to take me to the bar that is showing football.

05:58 PM I arrive at the Linga Longa bar, Johann and Stefan are already there. The anthems have been sung, but I am there at least for the beginning of the match...we watch both games over some beers and pizza and I am in bed by 11:45 PM.